Dancer Vito Coppola has revealed he will skip the begining of the Strictly Come Dancing live tour after suffering with “back pain”.
The Italian dancer, 32, was due to kick off the tour in Birmingham on Friday with actress Sarah Hadland, with whom he made the final of the BBC programme last year.
Fellow professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, who was partnered with Olympic hockey player Sam Quek for the 2024 series, will replace him at the beginning of the tour as Coppola has physiotherapy treatment.
Coppola appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Monday, alongside Hadland, and said: “At the moment, I will be replaced by Nikita, and … he will dance with (Sarah), he will lift you around (Sarah), because I’ve got a little injury.
“It’s like a dancer thing, we are kind of used to having this kind of pain, a little bit, in the body.”
He added that it is a “lower back pain”, and he can “walk” and move around, but “sharp” movements can be tricky so he needs to take a “little rest”.
“Hopefully, (I am) able to dance on tour in the arena from Sheffield (on January 21),” he also said.
“But I’m going to do all the physio, all the (treatment) this week.”
Coppola told Hadland that “we’re gonna be back (together) soon. In the meantime you will have the best experience, and you will love (your) first show in Birmingham”.
Among the other celebrities preparing to return to the dancefloor are Love Island star Tasha Ghouri, JLS singer JB Gill, EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick and opera signer Wynne Evans, The X Factor winner Shayne Ward and Gladiators star Montell Douglas.
The seven celebrities will hit the road from January 17 to perform until February 9.
The famous faces will be joined by Strictly judges Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and, for the first time on the tour, Motsi Mabuse. They will offer their professional insight and scores on the performances.
The tour allows audiences to decide who wins the coveted glitterball trophy at the end of each show.
Each performance will host a British Sign Language interpreter.
The tour will also stop at Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham, with the final shows set for London’s O2 Arena.
In 2023, Coppola lifted the Glitterball trophy with former Coronation Street actress Ellie Leach, and they also went on the live tour.
Last year, he also won Celebrity MasterChef with a final menu of Italian food.
